Jayden Daniels, the #2 overall pick in the 2024 draft, had a stellar showing in week three against the Cincinnati Bengals. He threw for 254 yards, ran for 39, and scored three touchdowns to pull off a 38-33 upset. Inevitably, this kicked off a debate among fans and media. Had the Chicago Bears made the wrong choice at quarterback with Caleb Williams? Everybody saw what happened last year. Bryce Young floundered in Carolina, while C.J. Stroud soared in Houston. Now Young is benched and Stroud is aiming at a Super Bowl run.
One can at least understand the question. Chicago has an ugly history of misidentifying the quarterback position. Just look at Mitch Trubisky and Justin Fields for recent reminders. Or maybe you prefer Rex Grossman and Cade McNown if you’re more of a veteran fan. The bottom line is Daniels seems to be functioning better than Williams so far. Is he really that much better? Dianna Russini of The Athletic reached out to several NFL people for answers. What she got back was rather astounding.
They seem to think Williams is being asked to do more.
That brings us to Caleb Williams, who is also exceptional at processing information. He has yet to take off in a Bears offense that is a legitimate NFL system. Williams is being asked to play with structure and lots of patience, something he isn’t used to doing. His ability to throw while on the move — specifically off-script playmaking — is his superpower and what made him a star at USC. Now he’s being sped up by defenses and getting little help from mediocre offensive line play.
All of this is compounded. The Bears started the season doing more dropback and reading defenses, then last week against the Colts it was more run game and deeper play-action off of that. I would expect Chicago to continue to try to lean on the run game so that play-action opens up, then go quick game and get Williams on the move.
So yes, Daniels is playing better right now and Washington is helping support that, but we can’t have short-term thinking with Williams and the Bears. They just need some more time to figure it out as Williams works toward mastering a true NFL offense.
In short: Caleb Williams is not Bryce Young. That’s what I’m hearing.
Caleb Williams is being asked to be a pro.
That is basically what they’re saying. Shane Waldron has installed a classic NFL offense that asks the quarterback to stand in the pocket and read the defense. All the best ones do this, but it can take time to master. That would explain why Williams looked out of sorts through the first two weeks and finally seemed to gain some traction in the second half against Indianapolis. Conversely, Washington has been content to run a system similar to what Daniels had in college.
His passing chart against Cincinnati perfectly reflects this. He almost exclusively threw passes to his right the entire game. Only five of his 23 attempts went to the left or middle.
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Meanwhile, Caleb Williams’ passing chart reflects what the Bears have asked of him. He’s reading the entire field and throwing the ball everywhere. The results aren’t always great, but he is improving.
The Bears are playing the long game with Williams. It appears they want him to become a full-fledged NFL quarterback as soon as possible. That requires getting comfortable in the pocket, making pre-snap and post-snap reads, and manipulating coverages with his eye. It hasn’t yielded immediate results. Still, the approach makes perfect sense if they want the kid to excel in the long term. Washington is content with keeping things simple for Daniels. It will be interesting to see how long they can get away with that before NFL defenses catch on.
Washington’s Daniels: short-run winning;
Chicago’s Williams: long-run winning;
GB, MN, DET.: short, mid-run winning;
So…..Washngton wants to win and the Bears don’t care……